Crash Man, known as Clashman (クラッシュマン,Kurasshuman?) in Japan, is a combat Robot Master that was built by Dr. Wily using the designs of Bomb Man and Guts Man as a base with high speed and agility, the use of high explosives as primary weapons, and clad in a thick armour that can effectively withstand explosions. His Special Weapon is the Crash Bomber, powerful drill-like time bombs that attach themselves to their targets before detonating.

Crash Man is an honest, forthright individual who is usually obedient, if somewhat clumsy due to his lack of functional hands. However, he has a tendency to suffer from violent mood swings- he can be docile one moment and fly into psychotic rages the next, often going on destructive rampages with his bombs when angered.

Contents

Appearances

Crash Man is one of the eight combat robots Dr. Wily created to fight against Mega Man. If Crash Man isn't attacked, he will just run back and forth, only jumping to shoot a Crash Bomb where Mega Man is standing if shot at. So if the player runs, jumps and then shoots, Crash Man will jump up to get hit by the blast. Then just keep running so that the Crash Bomb will miss. This strategy can be done continuously until he is defeated. If his weakness, Air Shooter, is used on Crash Man, Mega Man doesn't need to jump to harm him, but only to make the Crash Bomb miss.

The second Doc Robot in Needle Man's stage copies Crash Man's moves, and before the battle, Crash Man has a cameo appearance as program data copied by Doc Robot. This Doc Robot is weak against Hard Knuckle and Top Spin.

Crash Man is one of the six bosses from the "Mega Man 1~2" course. He attacks by throwing a single Crash Bomb, but sometimes he will jump and throw four bombs on the floor, their explosion covering a large area from the floor. His weakness is the Rolling Cutter.

In Wily & Right's RockBoard: That's Paradise, the Boss Card Clash Card (クラッシュカード,Kurasshu Kādo?) can be used to summon Crash Man, who will set a Crash Bomb in one of the opponent's buildings. The bomb explodes in the next turn, downgrading the building.

Crash Man and Dr. Wily's other robots are rebuilt by Ra Moon. Crash Man is the last of the eight bosses from Mega Man 2 to be fought, suddenly appearing during Episode 2 to attack Mega Man with all his strength. Besides his Crash Bomber, Crash Man can also attack with other weapons hidden in his body, having rapid-firing weapons in his shoulders and large-sized bombs in his back that can split into three or more Crash Bombs when hit. If the player is defeated by Crash Man, Fire Man will appear to save Mega Man, giving him a chance to fight against Crash Man again.

Later, Crash Man and the other robots are revived again near the end of Episode 3, but they are betrayed by Ra Moon and attacked. Crash Man and the others are apparently destroyed with Ra Moon in the Temple of the Moon.

Other media

Mega Man (Ruby-Spears)

Crash Man appears in the fourth episode of Ruby-Spears' Mega Man animated series. He only appears for a brief scene when attacking the city, but nonetheless plays an important role in the progression of the episode. In the show, he only uses Time Bombs, changing from his standard drill-like weapon to another missile-shaped explosive before firing them- suggesting that the drill-like weapons he had beforehand were his Crash Bombs, and that the time-delayed explosives he used were added for the show. He speaks with a vaguely Italian-American sounding voice.

Crash Man appears in episode 20 of Captain N: The Game Master, where he and other Robot Masters from Mega Man 2 play football against the main characters. Crash Man has drastic changes in his appearance, and instead of shooting Crash Bombs, he throws cartoon-style Acme bombs from a scoop-shaped blaster.

Crash Man first appeared in the end of issue 8 of the Mega Man comic by Archie Comics, where he is built by Dr. Wily. After defeating Heat Man in issue #10, Mega Man moves on to fight Crash Man. The Blue Bomber provokes Crash Man into attacking him by questioning his lack of hands and mocking his name. Crash Man retaliates by covering the room in Crash Bombs, causing the entire building they're in to collapse. Having survived the explosion by using Leaf Shield, Mega Man finds him, defeated but functioning, buried in a pile of rubble. After copying his weapon, he moves on, leaving a line of bombs behind him, causing a massive second explosion and destroying Crash Man in the process, although not before complimenting Mega Man about him using his power and citing it was good to "die in."

Later on, Crash Man and Wily's other Robot Masters were reconstructed by Ra Moon in Spiritus Ex Machina. He gave sympathy to the newly created Needle Man, who also lacks hands. In the subsequent Worlds Collide crossover, he joined the other Wily Robot Masters (including from games not yet adapted in the comic) in battling Mega Man, Sonic the Hedgehog, and their allies at the behest of Wily and Dr. Eggman. After the crossover, Crash Man fought against Dr. Light's Robot Masters (Mega Man, Bomb Man, Cut Man, Guts Man, and Rush) when they arrived at the Temple of the Moon's vicinity, but eventually called a truce when they discovered that the EMP wave that Ra Moon had released was going to destroy all life on the planet and thus was not what Dr. Wily wanted. In addition, they also drove off Shadow Man after he was revealed to be loyal to Ra Moon instead of Dr. Wily. Crash Man, alongside Dr. Wily's first line of Robot Masters, Break Man, and Dr. Light's robot masters, then proceeded to attack Ra Moon and the second line of Robot Masters. Following Ra Moon's defeat, he and his brothers set about preparing for the next phase of Wily's schemes to take over the world.

Crash Man found a sympathetic spirit in Spark Man, who also lacked hands, and the two apparently formed a club that Needle Man wanted to join. While Spark Man joined his set of Robot Masters in distracting Mega Man, Crash Man and his line were relieved of their Integrated circuits and weapon data by Break Man. These were then delivered to Dr. Wily for installation in his new Doc Robot, who subsequently displayed all the powers of Crash Man and his brothers as well as possessing their minds. Their bodies were placed in capsules by Break Man while the eight Robot Masters controlled the Doc Robot together, if not without argument.

Short Circuits

Besides the main story, Crash Man also appeared in one of the Short Circuits segment for Issue 11Crash Master, where he made visual puns on the "Crash" portion of his name. Specifically, crashing the Skull Machine XX into a tree, causing Dr. Wily's computer to crash, before finally being sent to the Stock Exchange by Dr. Wily. In Issue 19's "Melancholic Masters," Crash Man joined a Robot Master Group Therapy Session where Fire Man sympathized with him over their mutual lack of hands-a recurring joke in the series.

In the manga Mega Man Megamix, Crash Man's arms can rotate, having hands in one side and Crash Bombs in the other. Crash Man also has weapons equipped in his head, shoulders, legs, and feet.

In the story "R Destruction Order", Crash Man, Metal Man and Heat Man appeared to help Air Man when he was outnumbered by Dr. Light's robots. When Mega Man went after Dr. Wily, Heat Man asked Crash Man to give him Crash Bombs, which he consumed and used as an energy boost to pursue Mega Man while the others fought against Dr. Light's robots. Later, Crash Man retreated when Wily's plan failed.

Crash Man also appears in Mega Man Gigamix. He and other robots try to protect Dr. Wily from an alien robot, but they are defeated. Later, they were repaired and appear in Dr. Light's destroyed laboratory to assist Wily, Light, Cossack, and their robots.

When a base is built in the city, Mega Man climbs it to the top and finds Crash Man. Crash Man's Crash Bombs are quite powerful, and he is able to dodge the Mega Buster and Metal Blade, but not the Air Shooter, which is used to defeat him.

Wanting to be sure that no one will interfere with Dr. Wily's plans, Crash Man appears in the laboratory that Dr. Wily stole the time machine and sends some robots (Blocky, Shotman, and two Telly) to attack Mega Man. His robots are easily defeated, and Crash Man uses both arms to attack with a Double Crash Bomb, but Mega Man slides to avoid the attack and defeats Crash Man with his buster. Before shutting down, Crash Man says he isn't alone, and Mega Man is attacked by Metal Man, Air Man, and Wood Man.

Trivia

Crash Man's name has been the subject of controversy. It could be translated as both Crash Man or Clash Man (not to make mention of "Crush Man"). Japanese has a rhotic /l/; there is no way (save context) to discern what letter (of l and r) is intended. Because of this, he's called "Clash Man" in the English version of Mega Man II and "Crash Man" in the Japanese version of Mega Man: The Power Battle. Likewise, the Crash Bomber is given the abbreviation "CL" in the Wily Tower game of Mega Man: The Wily Wars, though the game otherwise refers to the boss and weapon as "Crash". His name and weapon reappear in the Super Smash Bros. trailer, where it once again appears as "Clash" in the Japanese version, but "Crash" in the English version.

Crash Man is the only Robot Master from Mega Man 2 that does not have a NetNavi counterpart.

Due to palette limitations, in his NES sprite, Crash Man's knees are white, instead of yellow like in the artwork.

The reason why Crash Man is clumsy is because of his lack of functional hands.

In the Mega Man Megamix manga, Crash Man does have functional hands. He uses them in place of his usual drills when he is not fighting, and is able to retract them to use his Crash Bomb launchers.

During development, some of the names for Crash Man's early designs were Drill Man and Missile Man.[1] The name Drill Man was later used for a Robot Master in Mega Man 4.

In Mega Man: The Power Battle, Crash Man's theme is a remix of Napalm Man's theme, whilst his actual theme is used for Wood Man.

Although Crash Man's armor appears to be orange in some images, Mega Man Official Complete Works shows that his armor is a shade of red, color 156 in the DIC color chart and CMYK colorC 0%, M 80%, Y 80%, K 10%.

Interestingly, whilst Crash Man was made from both Bomb Man and Guts Man's designs, his stage utilizes elements from theirs as well. Orbs similar to the ones from Bomb Man's stage appear within the pipes, and the area is set at a high height where various sections of the sky are plain blue, like Guts Man's stage.